Image by Virginia Sea Grant, https://www.flickr.com/photos/virginiaseagrant/, via Flickr Creative Commons

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam is currently engaging in a highly coveted Democrat political techniques in his increasingly desperate run for governor of Virginia (he’s the guy who had the black guy running for lieutenant governor photoshopped out of campaign literature). He’s lying about his incredibly thin military resume and using that non-existent expertise to push for favorite progressive policies.

Throughout the campaign, this has been a regular feature of Northam’s speeches.

For instance this:

“As a veteran of the U.S. Army, I have seen what military-style weapons do to the human body while caring for our troops in Operation Desert Storm,” Northam says in an online video released today.

And this:

As a veteran, I served during Desert Storm and I took care of wounded soldiers who were on the receiving end of assault weapons. I know what assault weapons do to human beings. I want to tell you all something, and I hope it’s something you will stand up for. We do not need assault weapons on the streets in our state.”

And this:

Mr. Northam, a doctor and Army veteran, attended a candlelight vigil Monday night for the Las Vegas victims where he described caring for wounded soldiers in Desert Storm.

“I know all too well what assault weapons do to human beings,” he said. “And until I don’t have another breath in my lungs, I will stand up and tell people that we do not need assault weapons on our streets.”

Well, now we have Northam’s service record. These are his assignments.

Here we see that Northam was a pediatric neurologist at Landstuhl Army hospital. While Landstuhl has had a major role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, during Desert Storm the wounded were evacuated to 7th Medical Command evacuation hospitals located near Frankfurt/Main in Germany. From there the severely wounded were further evacuated to the United States. There were just over 450 men and women wounded in action in Desert Storm. A quarter of those came from one incident: the SCUD strike on a barracks. Very few US soldiers suffered small arms wounds because Desert Storm was not that kind of war. The odds, however, of a pediatric neurologist stationed in a completely different command–the evac hospitals are commanded separately from the community hospitals–having had a life-changing experience by treating small arms wounds approach zero.

If Northam isn’t going full-metal Richard Blumenthal here, he needs to provide a helluva lot more evidence because right now his claims look as fake as his campaign.

(hat tip to Jonn Lilyea)